GD2 needed to go home Wednesday, she woke up missing her family. She was very quiet all morning, and very happy when she and I got into the car to head for Kalamazoo.

Having her here for a few days reminded me of the “good old days”, when I had three small children in the house, yard and underfoot all the time. It seems like yesterday, not 30+ years ago.

GD2 is very surprising, she seems to remember everything. GD2 talks all the time, much like her mother did. We say, “She rattles like a rusty tin can,” to describe that particular behavior. She never has any trouble getting her meaning across, none at all.

She asked me where her little water bottle was. That goes back to last summer, when I bought a few small water bottles, and we distinguished which was who’s by the color of the lids. So she said to me, “You can find our water bottles, the blue one is my sister’s, the green one is my brother’s, and the pink one is mine.” I almost fell over, I was so surprised. She remembered that from when she was almost three years old, to now, when she is almost 4.

GD2 also gets up in the morning and relates what she dreamed about. I’ve seen little children wake up crying when dreams scared them, but I’ve never seen on that woke up and related details of what a dream was about. One morning she said, “I dreamed my brother came here.” She also uses her large vocabulary to relate information about her life, “There is new carpet at my school.” Or, “We have a trampoline in our yard.” Or, “My friend Rachel lives in the back.” Now, I don’t know where the back is, but I imagine it’s around the block. GD2 doesn’t remember living “up north”, she seems to remember only the apartment her family first moved into in Kalamazoo, and her new house in a subdivision.

The best part of the visit was having a little one sitting on my lap, sharing a book, and helping in the kitchen. She’s darn good at setting the table, she must do that a lot at home. She counts up who is eating, and counts out the silverware, and puts it by the chairs. She knows what’s missing, if there isn’t enough of each thing.

Another visit came to an end, but we have a long summer of visits to look forward to.